Recent video cameras have not only a function to record moving images on magnetic tape media, but also a function to record still images and moving images on a removable non-volatile semiconductor memory card. Using a single video camera, users can take and record moving images and still images to view them on a home television set or personal computer, print them as pictures, or deliver video media via e-mail or the Internet.
The conventional video cameras record information on magnetic tape and memory cards as follows.
First, a user switches from PHOTO OFF to PHOTO ON using a power switch of the video camera. Then, the user switches to tape recording mode or card recording mode using a recording mode selector switch. If the power switch and recording mode selector switch are combined into a single switch, the single switch is used to switch power ON/OFF, tape recording/card recording mode, etc.
Upon switching to tape recording mode or card recording mode, a message or pictographic character appears on the video camera's liquid crystal monitor for use to view a subject, indicating whether the current recording mode is the magnetic tape recording mode or memory card recording mode.
To record images in the indicated recording mode, the user presses a record button to record image data of the acquired images on a target recording medium corresponding to the recording mode.
As an example of cameras which switch among monitor displays in relation to switching among shooting modes, there are digital cameras which allow a mode to be selected from among a plurality of modes including still image mode, continuous shooting mode, and moving image mode. When a recording mode is selected, such digital cameras display an icon of the selected recording mode on an image monitor for a certain time before shifting to the selected recording mode (e.g., Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-101824).
However, with the conventional video cameras, to know the current recording medium, the operator must view information on a liquid crystal monitor or remember the mode he/she has selected: the tape recording mode or card recording mode. When displaying the recording mode on the liquid crystal monitor, the user must check the mode deliberately, which is troublesome. When relying on memory, the operator is liable to get something wrong. In particular, with a model equipped with a separate record switch and recording mode selector switch rather than a combination switch which combines a record switch and recording mode selector switch, the user it too preoccupied with operating the record switch to pay attention to the recording mode.